Remember Big Ron? STILL GOING STRONG??
| Date of birth | 18 March 1939 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
It is April 20th 2004. After conceding two goals in the final twelve minutes to Monaco, a team down to ten men, Chelsea had just been beaten 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League match. a semi-final. It should have been headline news but ITV's top summariser, Ron Atkinson, was about to reduce one of the biggest fixtures in the European season, to all but a "footnote"!
Having assumed that his commentary to Britain's "airways" was finished, Big Ron, not realising that the microphones were still active and transmitting over a feed to Middle Eastern countries, including Ethiopia and Dubai, decided to deliver HIS considered verdict on the match, especially the performance of Chelsea's central defender, Marcel Desailly! Big Ron says, "He's what is known in some schools as a f***ing lazy, thick n***er. Big Ron proving that he was not too smart himself!!! Needless to say a "storm" ensued and Big Ron had to resign from his ITV post and also from his column at the Guardian, known as "Big Ron's Chalkboard"!!
"I made a stupid mistake, which I regret," Ron said, and he had no option but to resign. "At the moment I cannot believe that I did it", he said months later, featuring in a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary, called "What Ron Said", which examined his attitude to "race". In it, a testy Atkinson claimed he had over-apologised to his alleged remarks! "I am not a racist but might be an idiot!" a form of self defence from him!
As of early 2026, 87-year-old Ron "Big Ron" Atkinson remains active in football media, working as a pundit for MUTV and William Hill’s podcast "The Punt". SUMS him up??
